The Rightly-Guided Injil

al-Ṭabarī on The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64), part 4

Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān, by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). The earliest of the great commentaries to survive whole. Al-Ṭabarī sets out every opinion he knows on a verse with its chain of transmission, then rules between them. His reports on 4:157 are the oldest record of how the substitution at the cross was understood.

Part 4 of 5: the commentary on The family of ʿImrān (3:33-64). The parts follow the order of the verses; this one covers 3:52 to 3:62-63.

On 3:52

On the interpretation of His words: Then when Jesus perceived unbelief from them, he said: “Who are my helpers towards God?” The disciples said: “We are the helpers of God. We believe in God, and bear witness that we are Muslims” (3:52)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, Then when Jesus perceived unbelief from them, He means: when Jesus found unbelief from them.

“Perceiving” (al-iḥsās) is finding; from this is the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic: Do you perceive any one of them? (19:98).

As for al-ḥass, without the alif, it is annihilation and killing; from this is His saying: when you were slaying them by His leave (3:152).

Al-ḥass is also tenderness and softness of heart; from this is the saying of al-Kumayt1:

Does he who weeps over the dwelling hope that it will feel tenderness for him,

or that the copious water of his tears will make the dwelling weep?

By his words “that it will feel tenderness for him” (an taḥissa lahu) he means: that it will soften towards him.

So the interpretation of the passage is: When Jesus found from the Children of Israel, to whom God had sent him, denial of his prophethood, rejection of his word, and a turning away from the command of God to which he summoned them, he said: Who are my helpers towards God? By that He means: Jesus said: Who are my helpers against those who reject the proof of God, who turn away from His religion and who deny the prophethood of His prophet, towards God, Mighty and Majestic?

By His words towards God (ilā Allāh) He means: with God (maʿa Allāh).

It was fitting to say ilā Allāh in the sense of “with God” only because it is the custom of the Arabs, when they join one thing to another and then wish to speak of the two together by the joining of one with the other once it has been joined to it, that they sometimes put ilā (“to”) in the place of maʿa (“with”); and sometimes you speak of the two with maʿa. So you say: “al-dhawd ilā al-dhawd ibil” (“a small herd to a small herd is a herd of camels”), meaning: when you join a small herd to a small herd, they become a herd of camels. But when one thing is merely with another, they do not express it with ilā, nor do they put ilā in the place of maʿa.

It is not permissible to say “So-and-so arrived, and ilayhi (‘to him’) was wealth,” meaning “and with him was wealth”.

In agreement with what we have said concerning the interpretation of His words Who are my helpers towards God? spoke a number of the people of interpretation.

Those who said this

(7120) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī, concerning His words Who are my helpers towards God?: he says: with God.

(7121) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: Who are my helpers towards God?: he says: with God.

As for the reason Jesus (peace be upon him) sought the help of those of the disciples whose help he sought, there is a difference about it among the people of knowledge.

  • Some of them said: the reason for that was what:

(7122) Mūsā ibn Hārūn related it to me: ʿAmr related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: When God sent Jesus and commanded him to make the call, the Children of Israel banished him and expelled him, so he and his mother went out wandering through the land. He lodged in a village with a man who gave them hospitality and treated them well. That city had a tyrannical, oppressive king. One day that man came home with worry and grief having fallen upon him, and he entered his house while Mary was with his wife. Mary said to her: “What is the matter with your husband? I see that he is sorrowful!” She said: “Do not ask!” She said: “Tell me! Perhaps God will relieve his distress.” She said: “We have a king who imposes on every man among us a day on which he must feed him and his soldiers and give them wine to drink; and if he does not do it, he punishes him. Today his turn has come, the day on which the king wants us to prepare the feast for him, and we have no means for that!” She said: “Then tell him not to worry, for I shall instruct my son to pray for him, and that will be taken care of.” Mary spoke to Jesus about it. Jesus said: “Mother, if I do that, evil will come of it.” She said: “Do not mind that, for he has treated us well and honoured us!” Jesus said: “Then tell him: when the time draws near, fill your cooking-pots and your large jars with water, then inform me.” He said: When he had filled them he informed him, and Jesus prayed to God, and what was in the pots turned into meat, broth and bread, and what was in the jars into wine the like of which people had never seen, and he had it set out as food.2 When the king came he ate, and when he drank the wine he asked: “Where is this wine from?” He said to him: “It is from such-and-such a land.” The king said: “But my wine is brought to me from that land, and it is not like this!” He said: “It is from another land.” When he gave the king confused answers, the king pressed him hard, so he said: “Then I shall tell you: I have a young man who asks God for nothing but that He gives it to him; he prayed to God, and He turned the water into wine.” The king said – he had a son whom he wished to make his successor, but who had died some days before, and who had been the dearest of all creatures to him – he said: “A man who prayed to God until He turned water into wine will surely be answered if he asks that my son be brought back to life!” So he summoned Jesus and spoke to him, and asked him to pray to God to bring his son back to life. Jesus said: “Do not do it, for if he lives, evil will come of it.” The king said: “I do not care; so long as I see him, I do not care what happens.” Jesus (peace be upon him) said: “If I bring him back to life, will you let me and my mother go wherever we wish?” The king said: “Yes.” So he prayed to God and the boy lived. When the people of his kingdom saw that he had come back to life, they called one another to arms and said: “This man has devoured us, and now that his death has drawn near he wants to make his son his successor so that he may devour us as his father devoured us!” So they fought one another, and Jesus and his mother departed, and a Jew accompanied them. The Jew had two loaves and Jesus had one loaf. Jesus said to him: “Share with me.” The Jew said: “Yes.” But when he saw that Jesus had only one loaf, he regretted it. When the two slept, the Jew set about trying to eat the loaf; whenever he ate a morsel Jesus would say to him: “What are you doing?” and he would say: “Nothing!” and throw it down, until he had finished the whole loaf. When morning came, Jesus said to him: “Bring your food!” He brought one loaf. Jesus said to him: “Where is the other loaf?” He said: “I had only one.” Jesus said nothing to him about it. They set off and passed by a shepherd with sheep, and Jesus called out: “O owner of the sheep, give us a sheep from your flock to slaughter.” He said: “Yes; send your companion to take it.” Jesus sent the Jew, and he brought the sheep; they slaughtered it and roasted it. Then he said to the Jew: “Eat, but do not break any bone.” The two of them ate, and when they had eaten their fill, Jesus cast the bones into the skin, then struck it with his staff and said: “Rise, by God’s leave!” The sheep rose up bleating, and he said: “O owner of the sheep, take your sheep.” The shepherd said to him: “Who are you?” He said: “I am Jesus son of Mary.” He said: “You are the sorcerer!” and fled from him. Jesus said to the Jew: “By Him who brought this sheep back to life after we had eaten it, how many loaves did you have?” He swore that he had had only one loaf. Then they passed by an owner of cattle, and Jesus called out and said: “O owner of the cattle, give us a calf from these cattle of yours to slaughter.” He said: “Send your companion to take it.” He said: “Go, O Jew, and bring it.” He went and brought it. He slaughtered it and roasted it while the owner of the cattle looked on, and Jesus said to him: “Eat, but do not break any bone.” When they had finished, he cast the bones into the skin, then struck it with his staff and said: “Rise, by God’s leave!” It rose up lowing, and he said: “Take your calf.” He said: “And who are you?” He said: “I am Jesus.” He said: “You are the arch-sorcerer!” and then fled from him. The Jew said: “O Jesus, you brought it back to life after we had eaten it!” Jesus said: “Then by Him who brought the sheep back to life after we had eaten it, and the calf after we had eaten it, how many loaves did you have?” He swore by God that he had had only one loaf. The two went on until they came down to a village; the Jew lodged in its upper part and Jesus in its lower part. The Jew took a staff like the staff of Jesus and said: “Now I shall raise the dead!” The king of that city was gravely ill, and the Jew went about calling: “Who wants a physician?” until he came to the king of that village and was told of his ailment. He said: “Bring me in to him and I shall cure him; and if you see that he has died, I shall bring him back to life.” He was told: “The king’s ailment has defeated the physicians before you; there is no physician who treats him and whose remedy fails to restore anything to him but that he orders him crucified.” He said: “Bring me in to him, for I shall cure him.” He was brought in to him, and he took hold of the king’s leg and beat him with his staff until he died; then he kept beating him with his staff while he was dead, saying: “Rise, by God’s leave!” He was seized to be crucified. Word reached Jesus, and he came to him when he had already been raised upon the wooden beam, and said: “What do you think: if I bring your companion back to life for you, will you let me have my companion?” They said: “Yes.” So God brought the king back to life for Jesus, and he rose, and the Jew was taken down. He said: “O Jesus, you of all people have laid the greatest debt of gratitude upon me; by God, I shall never part from you.” Jesus said – according to what Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Mūsā related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī – to the Jew: “I adjure you by Him who brought the sheep and the calf back to life after we had eaten them, and brought this man back to life after he had died, and brought you down from the trunk after you had been raised upon it to be crucified: how many loaves did you have?” He said: He swore by all of this that he had had only one loaf. He said: “No matter!” The two went on until they passed by a treasure which the wild beasts and the animals had dug up. The Jew said: “O Jesus, to whom does this wealth belong?” Jesus said: “Leave it, for it has owners who will perish over it.” The soul of the Jew kept hankering after the wealth, but he was loath to disobey Jesus, so he went on with Jesus. Four men passed by the wealth, and when they saw it they gathered around it. Two said to their two companions: “Go and buy us food and drink, and beasts on which we may carry this wealth.” The two men went and bought beasts and food and drink, and one of them said to his companion: “What do you say to our putting poison in our two companions’ food, so that when they eat it they die, and the wealth is between me and you?” The other said: “Yes!” and they did so. The other two said: “When they bring us the food, let each of us rise against his man and kill him, so that the food and the beasts will be between me and you.” When the two came with their food, the other two rose and killed them, then sat down to the food and ate of it, and died. Jesus was informed of that, and he said to the Jew: “Bring it out so that we may divide it.” He brought it out, and Jesus divided it into three. The Jew said: “O Jesus, fear God and do not wrong me; it is only me and you! What are these three?” Jesus said to him: “This is for me, this is for you, and this third is for the owner of the loaf.” The Jew said: “If I tell you who the owner of the loaf is, will you give me this wealth?” Jesus said: “Yes.” He said: “I am he.” Jesus said: “Take my share, your share and the share of the owner of the loaf; it is your share in this world and the next.” When he had loaded it up and walked a little way with it, the earth swallowed him up. Jesus son of Mary went on, and passed by the disciples while they were catching fish, and said: “What are you doing?” They said: “We are catching fish.” He said: “Will you not come along, so that we may catch men?” They said: “And who are you?” He said: “I am Jesus son of Mary.” So they believed in him and went along with him. That is the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic: “Who are my helpers towards God?” The disciples said: “We are the helpers of God. We believe in God, and bear witness that we are Muslims”.

(7122m) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words Then when Jesus perceived unbelief from them, he said: “Who are my helpers towards God?” – the verse – he said: He sought help, and the disciples helped him, and he prevailed over them.

  • Others said: the reason Jesus sought the help of those whose help he sought was that those against whom he sought the help of the disciples had wanted to kill him.

Those who said this

(7123) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from Mujāhid: Then when Jesus perceived unbelief from them: he said: They disbelieved and wanted to kill him, and that was when he sought the help of his people: he said: “Who are my helpers towards God?” The disciples said: “We are the helpers of God”.

“Helpers” (al-anṣār) is the plural of naṣīr, just as al-ashrāf is the plural of sharīf and al-ashhād is the plural of shahīd.

As for “the disciples” (al-ḥawāriyyūn), the people of interpretation differ about the reason for which they were named ḥawāriyyūn.

  • Some of them said: they were so named because of the whiteness of their garments.

Those who said this

(7124) Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me: Among what my father related, he said: Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ related to us, from Maysarah, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: They were named “the ḥawāriyyūn” only because of the whiteness of their garments.

  • Others said: they were so named because they were fullers who whitened garments.

Those who said this

(7125) Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, from ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Abū Arṭāh, who said: “The ḥawāriyyūn” are the washermen who whiten (yuḥawwirūn) garments, that is, wash them.

  • Others said: they are the elect of the prophets and their chosen ones.

Those who said this

(7126) Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, from Rawḥ ibn al-Qāsim, that Qatādah mentioned a man from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: He was one of the ḥawāriyyūn. It was said to him: Who are the ḥawāriyyūn? He said: Those who are fit for the caliphate.

(7127) I was told, from al-Minjāb: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Bishr related to us, from ʿUmārah, from Abū Rawq, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His words when the disciples said (5:112): he said: the chosen ones of the prophets.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The most apt of the sayings we have mentioned concerning the meaning of “the ḥawāriyyūn” is the saying of those who said: “They were so named because of the whiteness of their garments, and because they were washermen.”

That is because al-ḥawar among the Arabs is intense whiteness, and for this reason the food called ḥuwwārā3 is named ḥuwwārā because of its intense whiteness; and from it a man whose eyeballs are intensely white is called aḥwar, and a woman ḥawrāʾ. It may well be that the disciples of Jesus were named by what we have mentioned, because they whitened garments and were fullers; then they became known through their companionship of Jesus and his choosing them for himself as companions and helpers, so that this name attached to them and came into use, until every close associate of a man from among his companions and helpers came to be called his ḥawārī. For this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

(7128) “Every prophet has a ḥawārī, and my ḥawārī is al-Zubayr.”

– meaning his close associate. The Arabs may also call women whose dwellings are in the villages and towns ḥawāriyyāt, and they are so named only because of the prevalence of whiteness in them. From this is the saying of Abū Jaldah al-Yashkurī4:

So tell the fair town-women to weep for others than us,

for none weep for us but the barking dogs.

By His words The disciples said He means: these men whose description is what we have mentioned, their whitening of garments, said: We believe in God, we affirm the truth of God; and bear witness, you, O Jesus, that we are Muslims.

Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from God, Mighty and Majestic, that Islam is His religion with which He sent Jesus and the prophets before him, not Christianity and not Judaism; and it is an exoneration from God of Jesus from those who adopted Christianity and professed it as their religion, just as He exonerated Abraham from all religions other than Islam. And it is an argument advanced by God, exalted be His mention, on behalf of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) against the delegation of Najrān, as:

(7129) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Then when Jesus perceived unbelief from them and hostility, he said: “Who are my helpers towards God?” The disciples said: “We are the helpers of God. We believe in God” – and this is their saying by which they attained favour from their Lord – and bear witness that we are Muslims”, not as these people say who dispute with you about him – meaning the delegation of the Christians of Najrān.

On 3:53

On the interpretation of His words: Our Lord, we believe in what You have sent down, and we follow the Messenger, so write us down among those who bear witness (3:53)

Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from God, Mighty and Majestic, about the disciples, that they said: Our Lord, we believe, that is: we affirm the truth, in what You have sent down, meaning: in what You have sent down of Your Book upon Your prophet Jesus; and we follow the Messenger, meaning by that: we have become the followers of Jesus in Your religion with which You sent him, and his helpers in the truth with which You sent him to Your servants. And His words so write us down among those who bear witness: He says: so record our names together with the names of those who bore witness to the truth, acknowledged Your oneness before You, affirmed the truth of Your messengers, and followed Your command and Your prohibition; so place us in their number and together with them in the honour with which You honour them, and settle us in their station, and do not make us among those who disbelieved in You, barred others from Your path, and opposed Your command and Your prohibition.

By this He, Majestic is His praise, makes known to His creation the path of those whose words and deeds He approved, so that they may follow in their track and pursue their way, and thereby reach the like of what they reached of the degrees of His honour; and by it He gives the lie to those who adopted creeds other than the Muslim creed of pure monotheism (al-ḥanīfiyya al-muslima) in their claim concerning the prophets of God that they followed something other than it; and by it He argues against the delegation of the people of Najrān who disputed with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): that the saying of those among the followers of Jesus with whom God was pleased was contrary to their saying, and their way other than their way, as:

(7130) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Our Lord, we believe in what You have sent down, and we follow the Messenger, so write us down among those who bear witness, that is: such was their saying and their faith.

On 3:54

On the interpretation of His words: And they schemed, and God schemed; and God is the best of schemers (3:54)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He, Majestic is His praise, means: and those of the Children of Israel who disbelieved schemed; they are the ones of whom God mentioned that Jesus perceived unbelief from them.

Their scheming, with which God described them, was their conspiring with one another to assassinate Jesus and kill him. That is because Jesus (God’s blessings be upon him), after his people had driven him and his mother out from among them, returned to them, according to what:

(7131) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: Then Jesus journeyed with them – meaning the disciples who had been catching fish, and who believed in him and followed him when he called them – until he came to the Children of Israel by night and cried out among them. That is His saying: So a party of the Children of Israel believed, and a party disbelieved – the verse (61:14).

As for God’s scheming against them, it was – according to what al-Suddī mentioned – His casting the likeness of Jesus upon one of his followers, so that those scheming against Jesus killed him, thinking him to be Jesus, while God, Mighty and Majestic, had raised Jesus before that, as:

(7132) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: Then the Children of Israel besieged Jesus and nineteen men of the disciples in a house. Jesus said to his companions: “Who will take on my form and be killed, and Paradise shall be his?” One of them took it on, and Jesus was taken up to heaven. That is His saying: And they schemed, and God schemed; and God is the best of schemers. When the disciples came out, they saw them to be nineteen, and they told them that Jesus had been taken up to heaven. They began counting the group and found them one man short of the number, while they saw the form of Jesus among them, so they were in doubt about him. Even so, they killed the man, believing him to be Jesus, and crucified him. That is the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic: and they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them (4:157).

It is also possible that the meaning of “God’s scheming against them” is His leading them on by degrees (istidrāj) so that the decree might reach its appointed term, as we have explained concerning the saying of God: God mocks them (2:15).

On 3:55

On the interpretation of His words: When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: and God schemed against the people who sought to kill Jesus—together with their disbelief in God and their calling Jesus a liar in what he brought them from their Lord—when God, Majestic is His praise, said: “I am going to take you.” Thus “when” (idh) is connected to His words “and God schemed”, meaning: and God schemed against them at the time when God said to Jesus, “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself,” and so He took him and raised him to Himself.

Then the people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of the “taking” (wafāh) which God, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned in this verse.

  • Some of them said: it is the taking of sleep; and on their view the meaning of the words would be: I am going to make you sleep and raise you in your sleep.

Those who said this

(7133) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he said: he means the taking of sleep; God raised him in his sleep. Al-Ḥasan said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Jews: “Jesus did not die, and he is returning to you before the Day of Resurrection.”

  • Others said: its meaning is: I am going to seize you from the earth and raise you to Myself. They said: the meaning of “taking” (wafāh) is seizing (qabḍ), as in the expression “I took in full (tawaffaytu) from so-and-so what was owed to me,” meaning: I seized it and received it in full. They said: so the meaning of His words “I am going to take you and raise you” is: I am going to seize you from the earth alive, into My proximity, and take you to what is with Me without death, and raise you from among the polytheists and the people who disbelieve in you.

Those who said this

(7134) ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us: Ḍamrah ibn Rabīʿah related to us, from Ibn Shawdhab, from Maṭar al-Warrāq, concerning God’s words “I am going to take you”: he said: taking you from this world, and it is not the taking of death.

(7135) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he said: taking you from the earth.

(7136) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: His raising him to Himself is His taking him, and His purifying him from those who disbelieved.

(7137) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me: that Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: God, Mighty and Majestic, would not cause Jesus son of Mary to die; God only sent him as a caller and a bringer of good tidings, calling to Him alone. When Jesus saw how few followed him and how many called him a liar, he complained of that to God, Mighty and Majestic, and God revealed to him: “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself”—and one whom I have raised to Myself is not dead—“and I shall send you against the one-eyed Antichrist (al-Dajjāl) and you will kill him; then after that you will live twenty-four years; then I shall cause you to die the death of the living.”

Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said: And that confirms the saying of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) when he said: “How could a community perish of which I am the beginning and Jesus the end?”

(7138) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “O Jesus, I am going to take you,” that is: seize you.

(7139) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words “I am going to take you and raise you to Myself”: he said: “take you” means: seize you. He said: “take you” and “raise you” are one and the same. He said: he has not yet died, and will not until he kills the Antichrist, and then he will die. And he recited the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, and he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity (3:46); he said: God raised him to Himself before he reached maturity; he said: and he will descend as a mature man.

(7140) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself,” the whole verse: he said: God raised him to Himself, so he is with Him in heaven.

  • Others said: its meaning is: I am going to take you with the taking of death.

Those who said this

(7141) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “I am going to take you”: he says: I am going to cause you to die.

(7142) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from one who is not suspect, from Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, that he said: God caused Jesus son of Mary to die for three hours of the day, until He raised him to Himself.

(7143) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: And the Christians claim that He caused him to die for seven hours of the day, and then God brought him back to life.

  • Others said: its meaning is: when God said: O Jesus, I am going to raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieved, and take you after I have sent you down to the world. And he said: this is one of those cases where what is placed first is meant to come later, and what is placed later is meant to come first.

Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of these opinions in our view is the opinion of those who said: “its meaning is: I am going to seize you from the earth and raise you to Myself,” because of the mass transmission (tawātur) of the reports from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Jesus son of Mary will descend and kill the Antichrist; then he will remain on the earth for a period which he mentioned—the reports differ as to its extent—then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.

(7144) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī, from Ḥanẓalah ibn ʿAlī al-Aslamī, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “God will surely send down Jesus son of Mary as a just arbiter and an equitable leader; he will break the cross, kill the swine, abolish the poll-tax (jizyah), and pour out wealth until no one can be found to accept it; and he will surely halt at al-Rawḥāʾ5 as a pilgrim or as a visitor making the lesser pilgrimage, or he will surely combine them both.”

(7145) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, from Qatādah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ādam, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The prophets are brothers by different mothers6: their mothers are various, but their religion is one. I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary, because there was no prophet between me and him, and he is my deputy over my community. He will descend, and when you see him, recognise him: he is a man of medium build, inclining to red and white, with straight hair, as though his hair were dripping even though no moisture has touched it, wearing two garments lightly tinged with yellow. He will smash the cross, kill the swine, pour out wealth, and fight people for Islam, until in his time God destroys all the religious communities, and in his time God destroys the Messiah of error, the lying Antichrist. Security will settle upon the earth, so that lions will graze with camels, leopards with cattle, and wolves with sheep, and boys will play with snakes, none harming another. He will remain on the earth for forty years, then he will die, and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him.”

Abū Jaʿfar said: It is known that had God, Mighty and Majestic, caused him to die, He would not be one to cause him to die a second death and so bring two deaths upon him, for God, Mighty and Majestic, has told His servants only that He creates them, then causes them to die, then brings them to life, as He said, Majestic is His praise: God is He who created you, then provided for you, then will cause you to die, then will bring you to life. Is there any of your partners who does any of that? (30:40).

So the interpretation of the verse is then: God said to Jesus: O Jesus, I am going to seize you from the earth, and raise you to Myself, and purify you from those who disbelieved and so denied your prophethood.

And this report, although it is expressed in the form of a report, contains from God, Mighty and Majestic, an argument against those of the delegation of Najrān who disputed with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) concerning Jesus: that Jesus was neither killed nor crucified as they claimed, and that they and the Jews who affirmed that and made that claim against Jesus are liars in their claim and their assertion, as:

(7146) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Then He informed them—meaning the delegation from Najrān—and refuted them in what they had conceded to the Jews regarding his crucifixion, how He raised him and purified him from them, and said: “When God said: O Jesus, I am going to take you and raise you to Myself.”

As for “and purify you from those who disbelieved”, He means: cleanse you, and so deliver you from those who disbelieved in you and denied the truth you brought them, from among the Jews and all the other religious communities besides them, as:

(7147) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: when they intended against you what they intended.

(7148) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan, concerning His words “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: He purified him from the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, and the disbelievers of his own people.

On the interpretation of His words, Mighty and Majestic: and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: and I am going to place those who followed you upon your way and your religious community of Islam and its natural disposition, above those who denied your prophethood and opposed their path from among all the people of the religious communities, and so called a lie what you brought and turned away from acknowledging it: I shall make the former above them, prevailing over them, as:

(7149) Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: they are the people of Islam who followed him upon his natural disposition, his religious community and his way; they will not cease to prevail over those who oppose them until the Day of Resurrection.

(7150) Al-Muthannā related to us: Isḥāq related to us: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”; then he mentioned the like of it.

(7151) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”; then he mentioned the like of it.

(7152) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: he said: giving victory to those who followed you upon Islam over those who disbelieved, until the Day of Resurrection.

(7153) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: as for “those who followed you”, it is said: they are the believers; and it is said: rather, they are the Byzantines (al-Rūm).

(7154) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, from ʿAbbād, from al-Ḥasan: “and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection”: he said: He placed those who followed him above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection. He said: the Muslims are above them, and He made them higher than those who abandoned Islam, until the Day of Resurrection.

  • Others said: its meaning is: and I am going to place those of the Christians who followed you above the Jews.

Those who said this

(7155) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning God’s words “and purify you from those who disbelieved”: he said: those of the Children of Israel who disbelieved; “and I am going to place those who followed you”: he said: those of the Children of Israel and others who believed in him; “above those who disbelieved”: the Christians above the Jews until the Day of Resurrection. He said: there is no land in which there is a single Christian but that they are above the Jews, whether in east or in west; in all the lands the Jews are humbled.

On the interpretation of His words: Then to Me is your return, and I shall judge between you concerning that wherein you used to differ. (55) (3:55)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: “then to Me”, then to God, O you who differ concerning Jesus, “is your return”, meaning: your destination on the Day of Resurrection; “and I shall judge between you”, He says: then I shall decide between all of you in the matter of Jesus with the truth, “concerning that wherein you used to differ” of his affair.

This is one of those passages in which the speech is turned from reporting about the absent third person to direct address, for by His words “then to Me is your return” only a report about the followers of Jesus and those who disbelieved in him is intended.

The interpretation of the words is: and I am going to place those who followed you above those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection; then to Me is the return of both parties, those who followed you and those who disbelieved in you, and I shall judge between them concerning that wherein they used to differ. But the speech was turned back to direct address because of the utterance that precedes it, in the manner we have described of speech that comes out in the form of a quotation, as He said: until, when you are in the ships and they run with them with a fair wind (10:22).

On 3:56-57

On the interpretation of His words: As for those who disbelieved, I shall punish them with a severe punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they shall have no helpers. (56) And as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, He will pay them their rewards in full; and God does not love the wrongdoers. (57) (3:56–57)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, “As for those who disbelieved”, He means: as for those who denied your prophethood, O Jesus, and opposed your religious community, and called a lie the truth you brought them, and spoke falsehood about you, and attributed you to other than that to which they ought to have attributed you—from among the Jews, the Christians and all the other kinds of religions—I shall punish them with a severe punishment: as for this world, by killing, captivity, abasement and wretchedness; and as for the Hereafter, by the fire of Hell, abiding therein for ever. “And they shall have no helpers”, He says: they shall have no one to ward off God’s punishment from them, and no one to avert from them His painful chastisement, whether by force or by intercession, for He is the Mighty, the Possessor of vengeance.

As for His words “And as for those who believed and did righteous deeds”, He means, Exalted is His mention: and as for those who believed in you, O Jesus—He says: who affirmed you as truthful—and so acknowledged your prophethood and the truth you brought them from Me, and professed the religion of Islam with which I sent you, and acted according to the obligations I laid down by your tongue, the laws I legislated and the practices I established. As:

(7156) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “and did righteous deeds”: he says: they performed My obligations.

“He will pay them their rewards in full”, He says: He will give them the recompense of their righteous deeds complete; they will not be cheated of anything of it, nor will it be diminished for them.

As for His words “and God does not love the wrongdoers”, He means: and God does not love one who wrongs another in a right that is his, or puts something in other than its proper place.

By this, Majestic is His praise, He denied of Himself that He would wrong His servants by recompensing the evildoer among those who disbelieved with the recompense of the doers of good among those who believed in Him, or by recompensing the doer of good among those who believed in Him, followed His command, refrained from what He forbade him and so obeyed Him, with the recompense of the evildoers among those who disbelieved in Him, called His messengers liars, and opposed His command and His prohibition. So He said: I do not love the wrongdoers, so how could I wrong My creatures?

And this statement from God, Exalted is His mention, although it is expressed in the form of a report, is a threat from Him to those who disbelieve in Him and in His messengers, and a promise from Him to those who believe in Him and in His messengers, because He informed both parties together that He does not cheat this believer of his due, nor does He wrong his honour by placing it in one who disbelieved in Him and opposed His command and His prohibition, so that by placing it in those who do not deserve it He would be a wrongdoer.

On 3:58

On the interpretation of His words: This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance. (58) (3:58)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, “This”, He means: these tidings with which He informed His Prophet concerning Jesus and his mother Mary, and her mother Ḥannah, and Zachariah and his son John, and what He narrated of the affair of the disciples and of the Jews among the Children of Israel; “We recite to you”, O Muḥammad—He says: We read them to you, O Muḥammad, by the tongue of Gabriel (peace and blessings be upon him), through Our revealing them to you; “of the signs”, He says: of the lessons and the proofs against those of the delegation of the Christians of Najrān who disputed with you, and the Jews of the Children of Israel who called you a liar and called a lie the truth you brought them from Me; “and the Remembrance”, meaning: and the Qurʾān; “the wise”, meaning: possessed of the wisdom that decides between truth and falsehood, and between you and those who attribute the Messiah to a lineage other than his own, as:

(7157) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance”: the decisive, that which settles the truth, which no falsehood has adulterated, of the report concerning Jesus and concerning that wherein they differed about his affair; so do not accept any report other than it.

(7158) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: Abū Zuhayr related to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk: “This We recite to you of the signs and the wise Remembrance”: he said: the Qurʾān.

(7159) Al-Muthannā related to me: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, from ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “and the Remembrance”: he says: the Qurʾān; “the wise”: that which has been made perfect in its wisdom.

On 3:59

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he is. (59) (3:59)

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means, Majestic is His praise: indeed the likeness of Jesus, in My creating him without a sire—so inform the delegation of the Christians of Najrān of it, O Muḥammad—is, with Me, as the likeness of Adam, whom I created from dust and then said to him “Be”, and he was, without sire, without male or female. He says: so My creating Jesus from his mother without a sire is not more wondrous than My creating Adam without male or female, and My command when I commanded him to be, and he became flesh. He says: so likewise was My creating Jesus: I commanded him to be, and he was.

The people of interpretation mentioned that God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down this verse as an argument for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) against the delegation of the Christians of Najrān who disputed with him concerning Jesus.

Those who said this

(7160) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from Mughīrah, from ʿĀmir, who said: The people of Najrān were the people among the Christians who made the greatest claims about Jesus, and they used to argue with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); so God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down this verse in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is,” up to His words and invoke the curse of God upon the liars (3:61).

(7161) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: that was because a group of the people of Najrān came to Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him)—among them were al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib7—and they said to Muḥammad: “What is the matter with you, that you speak of our master?” He said: “Who is he?” They said: “Jesus; you claim that he is a servant of God!” Muḥammad said: “Yes indeed, he is a servant of God.” They said to him: “Have you ever seen the like of Jesus, or been told of it?” Then they went out from his presence, and Gabriel (peace and blessings be upon him) came to him with the command of our Lord, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, and said: Say to them when they come to you: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam,” to the end of the verse.

(7162) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: It was mentioned to us that the two chiefs of the people of Najrān and their two bishops, al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib, met the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about Jesus, saying: “Every human being has a father; so what is the matter with Jesus, that he has no father?” So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down concerning him this verse: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.”

(7163) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust”: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent and the people of Najrān heard of him, four men of their best came to him, among them al-ʿĀqib, al-Sayyid, Mā Sarjis8 and Mār Yaḥiz.9 They asked him what he said about Jesus, and he said: “He is the servant of God, and His spirit, and His word.” They said: “No! Rather he is God: He came down from His kingdom and entered the womb of Mary, then came out of her and showed us His power and His command! Have you ever seen a human being created without a father?” So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.”

(7164) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿIkrimah, concerning His words “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: he said: it was sent down concerning al-ʿĀqib and al-Sayyid of the people of Najrān, who were both Christians. Ibn Jurayj said: It has reached us that the delegation of the Christians of the people of Najrān came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), among them al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib, who at that time were the two chiefs of the people of Najrān, and they said: “O Muḥammad, why do you revile our master?” He said: “Who is your master?” They said: “Jesus son of Mary; you claim that he is a servant!” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Yes indeed, he is the servant of God and His word which He cast to Mary, and a spirit from Him.” They grew angry and said: “If you are truthful, then show us a servant who brings the dead to life, heals the one born blind, and creates from clay the form of a bird and breathes into it”—the verse—“but he is God.” He kept silent until Gabriel came to him and said: O Muḥammad: They have certainly disbelieved who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mary (5:17, 72), the verse. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “O Gabriel, they asked me to tell them the likeness of Jesus.” Gabriel said: The likeness of Jesus is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him “Be”, and he is. When morning came they returned, and he recited the verses to them.

(7165) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God”—so listen—“is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”: if they say Jesus was created without a male, then I created Adam from dust by that same power, without female or male, and he became, just as Jesus became, flesh and blood and hair and skin; so the creation of Jesus without a male is not more wondrous than this.

(7166) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words of God, Mighty and Majestic, “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust”: he said: Two men of Najrān came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him: “Do you know of anyone who was born without a male, that Jesus should be so?” He said: So God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’, and he is.” Did Adam have a father or a mother, as I created this one in the womb of this woman?

Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to say: How did He say “as the likeness of Adam: He created him”, when “Adam” is a definite noun, and definite nouns do not take an attached qualifying clause (ṣilah)?

It would be said: His words “He created him from dust” are not an attached clause qualifying Adam; rather they are an explanation of his affair by way of commentary on the parable He struck, and of how it came about.

As for His words “then said to him ‘Be’, and he is”: He said “and he is” (fa-yakūn), in the present tense, even though He had begun the report about the creation of Adam, which is a report about a matter already concluded, and He had expressed the report about it in the form of a report about what has passed, saying, Majestic is His praise, “He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’”—because it carries the sense of God’s informing His Prophet that His bringing things into being is by His word “Be”; then He said “and he is” as a fresh report, the report about the affair of Adam having come to its end at His word “Be”.

So the interpretation of the words is then: “Indeed the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’”—and know, O Muḥammad, that whatever your Lord says “Be” to, it is.

Since in His words “as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him ‘Be’” there is an indication that the speech is intended to inform the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and the rest of His creatures that whatever He brings into being from the first, without origin, beginning or element, comes to be, the indication of the speech sufficed for the meaning, and “and he is” was said, so that the future was conjoined to the past on the basis of that meaning.

Some of the scholars of Arabic have said: “and he is” is in the indicative as a fresh clause, and its meaning is: “Be”, and he was; as though He had said: and behold, he is.

On 3:60

On the interpretation of His words: The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters. (60) (3:60)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this, Majestic is His praise, He means: that which I have told you of the account of Jesus, and that his likeness is as the likeness of Adam, whom He created from dust and then his Lord said to him “Be”—it is the truth from your Lord; He says: it is the account which is from your Lord; “so do not be among the doubters”, meaning: so do not be among those who doubt that this is so, as:

(7167) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah: “The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”, meaning: so do not be in doubt about Jesus, that he is as the likeness of Adam, the servant of God and His messenger, and the word of God and His spirit.

(7168) Al-Muthannā related to me: Isḥāq related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words “The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters”: he says: so do not be in doubt about what We have narrated to you, that Jesus is the servant of God and His messenger, and a word from Him and a spirit, and that his likeness with God is as the likeness of Adam, whom He created from dust and then said to him “Be”, and he is.

(7169) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: “The truth is from your Lord”: what has come to you of the account of Jesus; “so do not be among the doubters”, that is: the truth has come to you from your Lord, so do not doubt it.

(7170) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words “so do not be among the doubters”: he said: the doubters (al-mumtarūn) are those who are in doubt.

“Doubt” (miryah), “uncertainty” (shakk) and “misgiving” (rayb) are one and the same, after the manner of your saying “give me”, “hand me” and “come, bring it”: these differ in wording while being one in meaning.

On 3:61

On the interpretation of His words: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us invoke earnestly and lay the curse of God upon the liars (3:61)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, Majestic is His praise, So whoever disputes with you concerning him, He means: whoever argues with you, O Muḥammad, concerning the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary.

The pronoun “him” in His words concerning him refers back to the mention of Jesus. It is also possible that it refers back to “the truth” of which He, Exalted be His mention, said: The truth is from your Lord (3:60).

By His words after the knowledge that has come to you, He means: after the knowledge that has come to you which I have made clear to you concerning Jesus, namely that he is the servant of God; say: Come, that is, come along, and let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us invoke earnestly (nabtahil), He says: then let us call down the curse upon one another (naltaʿin).

It is said in speech, “What is the matter with him? May God bahala him,” meaning: may God curse him; and “What is the matter with him? Upon him be the buhla of God,” by which the curse is meant. Labīd10 said, mentioning a people who had perished:

Time looked upon them and invoked destruction upon them (fa-ibtahal);

meaning: it called down ruin upon them.

and lay the curse of God upon the liars: those among us and among you who lie concerning what Jesus is. As in:

(7171) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, that is: concerning Jesus, that he is the servant of God and His messenger, of the word of God and His spirit; say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, up to His words upon the liars.

(7172) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, that is: after what I have recounted to you of his story and of how his affair was; say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, the verse.

(7173) It was related to us from ʿAmmār: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you: he says: whoever disputes with you concerning Jesus after the knowledge concerning him that has come to you.

(7174) Yūnus related to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning then let us invoke earnestly and lay the curse of God upon the liars: he said: among us and among you.

(7175) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, and he said: Ibn Lahīʿah related to me, from Sulaymān ibn Ziyād al-Ḥaḍramī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Jazʾ al-Zubaydī11: that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Would that there were a veil between me and the people of Najrān12, so that I should not see them and they should not see me!” — because of how fiercely they used to argue with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

On 3:62-63

On the interpretation of His words: Indeed, this is the true narrative, and there is no god but God; and indeed God, He is the Mighty, the Wise. (62) But if they turn away, then God is All-Knowing of those who work corruption. (63) (3:62-63)

Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, Majestic is His praise: Indeed, this which I have told you, O Muḥammad, concerning the matter of Jesus, and which I have recounted to you of his tidings — that he is My servant and My messenger and My word which I cast to Mary, and a spirit from Me — this is the true narrative and the true report; so know that. And know that created beings have no object of worship who deserves their worship by virtue of His owning them, except the One you worship, Who is God, the Mighty, the Wise.

By His words the Mighty He means: mighty in His vengeance upon whoever disobeys Him, opposes His command, and claims a god alongside Him other than Him, or worships a lord besides Him; the Wise, in His governance, into which no weakness enters, and which no defect reaches.

But if they turn away, He means: if these people who have disputed with you concerning Jesus turn their backs on the truth that has come to you from your Lord concerning Jesus and concerning all else of the guidance and clear exposition that God has given you, and turn aside from it and do not accept it;

then God is All-Knowing of those who work corruption, He says: then God possesses knowledge of those who disobey their Lord and do in His earth and His lands what He has forbidden them, and that is their corruption. He says, Exalted be His mention: He knows them and their deeds, reckons them against them and preserves them, until He requites them for them with their due requital.

Those versed in interpretation said much the same as we have said on this.

Those who said this

(7176) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Indeed, this is the true narrative, that is: this report concerning Jesus which you have brought is the true narrative of his affair.

(7177) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj: Indeed, this is the narrative: indeed this which We have said concerning Jesus is the true narrative.

(7178) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words Indeed, this is the true narrative: he said: Indeed this is the true narrative concerning Jesus; it is not fitting for Jesus to go beyond this or to exceed it — that he should go beyond being the word of God which He cast to Mary, and a spirit from Him, and the servant of God and His messenger.

(7179) Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me: my father related to me: my paternal uncle related to me: my father related to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās: Indeed, this is the true narrative: indeed this which We have said concerning Jesus is the truth; and there is no god but God, the verse.

Then, when He, Majestic is His praise, had decided between His Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the delegation of the Christians of Najrān with the decisive judgement and the just verdict, He commanded him — should they turn away from what he called them to, namely the acknowledgement of the oneness of God, that He has neither child nor consort, and that Jesus is His servant and His messenger, and should they refuse all but argument and contention — to call them to the mutual invocation of curses (mulāʿanah). The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did so. And when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did so, they shrank back and refused the mutual cursing, and called instead for a settlement; as in:

(7180) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, from Mughīrah, from ʿĀmir13, who said: He — meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — was commanded to invoke curses against them — meaning the people of Najrān — by His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, the verse. So they agreed to engage him in mutual cursing and appointed the following morning with him. Then they went off to al-Sayyid and al-ʿĀqib14, who were the most sensible of them, and these two followed them. Then they went off to a sensible man among them and told him the terms on which they had parted from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: “What have you done!” and made them regret it, and said to them: “If he is a prophet, and then invokes against you, God will never leave him unanswered in his anger against you; and if he is a king, and then prevails over you, he will never spare you.” They said: “What then can we do, when we have already given our word?” He said to them: “When you go to him in the morning and he offers you that on which you parted from him, say: ‘We seek refuge in God!’ And if he calls you to it again, say to him: ‘We seek refuge in God!’ Perhaps he will excuse you from it.” When they went in the morning, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out, holding al-Ḥasan to his breast and taking al-Ḥusayn by the hand, with Fāṭimah walking behind him. He called them to that on which they had parted from him the day before, and they said: “We seek refuge in God!” Then he called them again, and they said: “We seek refuge in God!” — several times. He said: “If you refuse, then embrace Islam, and you shall have what the Muslims have and owe what the Muslims owe, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said. And if you refuse, then pay the tribute (jizyah) out of hand, being humbled, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said.” They said: “We possess nothing but ourselves!” He said: “Then if you refuse, I renounce my covenant with you on equal terms, as God, Mighty and Majestic, has said.” They said: “We have no strength to make war on the Arabs; rather, we will pay the tribute.” He said: So he imposed upon them two thousand garments (ḥullah) each year, a thousand in Rajab and a thousand in Ṣafar. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The bringer of tidings came to me of the destruction of the people of Najrān, even the birds upon the trees — or: the sparrows upon the trees — had they gone through with the mutual cursing.”

Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Jarīr related to us, and said: I said to al-Mughīrah: “People relate in the account of the people of Najrān that ʿAlī was with them!” He said: “As for al-Shaʿbī, he did not mention him; and I do not know whether it was because of the Umayyads’ ill opinion of ʿAlī, or because it was not in the account.”

(7181) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: Salamah related to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: Indeed, this is the true narrative, up to His words then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (3:64): so he called them to equity (naṣaf) and cut off their argument. And when the report from God concerning him came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and the decisive judgement between him and them, and He commanded him what He commanded him of invoking curses against them if they rejected it, he called them to that. They said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, let us consider our affair; then we will come to you with what we intend to do about that to which you have called us.” So they left him, and then went aside with al-ʿĀqib, who was the man of counsel among them, and said: “O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, what is your view?” He said: “By God, O company of Christians, you know that Muḥammad is indeed a prophet sent, and he has brought you the decisive word concerning the affair of your master; and you know that no people has ever invoked curses against a prophet and had its elders survive or its young grow up. It will surely mean your extirpation if you do it. So if you refuse all but attachment to your religion and persistence in what you hold concerning your master, then make peace with the man and go back to your country until time shows you his outcome.” So they came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “O Abū al-Qāsim, we have decided not to invoke curses with you, and to leave you to your religion and return to our religion. But send with us a man from among your Companions whom you approve for us, to judge between us in certain matters of our property over which we have differed, for you are acceptable to us.”

(7182) Ibn Ḥumayd related to us: ʿĪsā ibn Farqad related to us, from Abū al-Jārūd, from Zayd ibn ʿAlī, concerning His words Come, let us call our sons and your sons, the verse, who said: It was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn.

(7183) Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us: Asbāṭ related to us, from al-Suddī: So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, the verse: so he — meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — took al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭimah by the hand and said to ʿAlī: “Follow us.” So he went out with them. But the Christians did not go out that day, and said: “We fear that this may be the Prophet, and the invocation of a prophet is not like that of anyone else!” So they stayed away from him that day, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Had they gone out, they would have been burnt!” Then they made peace with him on these terms: that he should have from them eighty thousand, and whatever the dirhams fell short of should be made up in goods, a garment reckoned at forty; and that he should have from them thirty-three coats of mail, thirty-three camels, and thirty-four horses fit for raiding every year, and that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand surety for them until we delivered them to them.

(7184) Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us: Saʿīd related to us, from Qatādah, who said: It was mentioned to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called a delegation from the delegation of Najrān, the Christians — they being the ones who disputed with him concerning Jesus — and they drew back from it and were afraid. And it was mentioned to us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: “By Him in Whose hand is Muḥammad’s soul, the punishment had already come hanging low over the people of Najrān, and had they done it they would have been extirpated from the face of the earth.”

(7185) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from Qatādah, concerning His words So whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, who said: It has reached us that the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to engage the people of Najrān in mutual invocation, and when they saw him come out they were awed and afraid, and turned back. Maʿmar said: Qatādah said: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to confront the people of Najrān, he took Ḥasan and Ḥusayn by the hand and said to Fāṭimah: “Follow us.” And when the enemies of God saw that, they turned back.

(7186) Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us: Maʿmar informed us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Had those who were to engage the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in mutual invocation (mubāhalah) gone out, they would have returned to find neither family nor property.

(7187) Abū Kurayb related to us: Zakariyyā related to us, from ʿAdī, who said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr related to us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.

(7188) Al-Qāsim related to us: al-Ḥusayn related to us: Ḥajjāj related to me, from Ibn Jurayj, who said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, had they engaged me in mutual cursing, the year would not have come round with a single one of them remaining among them, but God would have destroyed the liars.”

(7189) Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us: Ibn Zayd related to us, who said: It was said to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): “Had you engaged the people in mutual cursing, whom would you have brought when you said our sons and your sons?” He said: “Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.”

(7190) Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us: al-Mundhir ibn Thaʿlabah related to us: ʿIlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar al-Yashkurī related to us, who said: When this verse was revealed, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, the verse, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for ʿAlī and Fāṭimah and their two sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and called the Jews to engage them in mutual cursing. A young man of the Jews said: “Woe to you! Was it not only yesterday that your brethren were transformed into apes and swine? Do not engage in mutual cursing!” So they desisted.

About this text

This is a complete English rendering of Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=tabari). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.

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Notes

  1. Al-Kumayt ibn Zayd al-Asadī (d. 126/743), the Kufan poet whose verses are often cited by the grammarians as linguistic evidence. ↩
  2. The last phrase is corrupt in the manuscripts of the Tafsīr and is omitted by the later authors who copy this report; the sense appears to be that the food was prepared and served. ↩
  3. The finest white flour, the pure heart of the meal. ↩
  4. Abū Jaldah ibn ʿUbayd al-Yashkurī, a poet of the Umayyad period who was close to al-Ḥajjāj, then broke with him and joined the revolt of Ibn al-Ashʿath; the verse incites to battle against the Syrians. ↩
  5. A staging-post on the road between Medina and Mecca. ↩
  6. Arabic ikhwah li-ʿallāt: sons of one father by different wives; the sense is that their faith is one while their laws differ. ↩
  7. Titles of the two leading men of the Najrān delegation: al-Sayyid, its chief, and al-ʿĀqib, its deputy in charge of affairs. ↩
  8. That is, Mār Sarjis (Mar Sergius), a Syriac Christian name; the spelling in the manuscript is uncertain. ↩
  9. The reading of this name is uncertain in the sources. ↩
  10. Labīd ibn Rabīʿah (d. c. 661), the pre-Islamic poet who later embraced Islam; the line is from his elegy for his brother Arbad. ↩
  11. A Companion of the Prophet who settled in Egypt and was the last of the Companions to die there. ↩
  12. Najrān, a Christian town in the south of Arabia, whose delegation came to the Prophet at Medina and disputed with him about Jesus; the verses from 3:59 onwards are reported to have been revealed on that occasion. ↩
  13. ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d. c. 721), the Kufan Successor. ↩
  14. The two chief men of the Najrān delegation; al-ʿĀqib’s personal name was ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, as the next report shows. ↩